One of the major technological challenges in achieving circularity within the built environment is the disassembly of multi-material systems at the end of their useful life. This is especially true for façade systems, which have become more complex to improve operational performance. As efforts to reduce embodied carbon in façade systems intensify, circular economy principles, which integrate design, maintenance, and product reclamation to minimize waste and emissions, are crucial. A significant aspect of this is the emphasis on Design for Disassembly (DfD) strategies. Yet, despite the critical importance of circular economy principles, there is a disconnect between the awareness of stakeholders in the façade industry and the evaluative methods used to assess the impact of DfD during the early design stages on the material reclamation potential at the end of a building product's lifecycle. Industry stakeholders emphasize the need for quantitative methods to determine how design choices affect reclamation potential. Thus, developing a disassembly assessment framework is essential to guide DfD efforts in façade systems and to predict outcomes at their end of life. This study seeks to address this issue by developing a framework that meets the façade industry's needs, emphasizing the evaluation of design choices on material reclamation. By reviewing relevant literature, various factors that impact the highest reclamation potential for a façade systems were identified. These factors were organized into process maps, laying the groundwork for potential computational workflows. The factors were organized into modules that, when combined, facilitate a consistent assessment process. This research revealed that much of the necessary information is not readily processed by computational tools; it often exists in unstructured formats like text documents, and the key decision-making factors are often subjective and require human judgement. As a result, this framework proposes steps to creating databases which could improve the assessment process. The framework's effectiveness is demonstrated through a case study of an aluminum curtain wall façade system. The assessment led to suggested design improvements that increase the potential for material recovery and reduce disassembly time at the end of life. This case study demonstrates the framework's utility and uncovers practical challenges and opportunities, serving as a model for adapting the framework to different façade typologies and building components.

Aldowa, a facade manufacturing company, wants to shift from a linear, single-use aluminum product to a circular, Cradle to Cradle (C2C) certified one, ranging from Bronze to Platinum levels. The Platinum level signifies a fully circular product with materials that can be repurposed or recycled at the end of their life cycle without environmental harm. This transition demands adherence to Design for Disassembly (DfD) principles, ensuring products meet C2C certification requirements. The thesis presents a DfD guideline, integrating existing disassembly criteria and incorporating practical insights from Aldowa. The guideline, designed to align with Aldowa's project workflow, aims to assist in product life cycle extension, promoting sustainability and meeting C2C certification standards. It serves as a valuable tool throughout the project lifecycle, emphasizing the importance of efficient disassembly design methods for environmental benefits.

Flat glass is a widely used material in the construction industry. However, its production has a relatively high carbon footprint due to the high melting temperature required, and most of it is still sent to landfill or down-cycled at end-of-life. The reuse of glass therefore has a great potential, given its lower carbon footprint and the number of existing buildings with glass panes that would be suitable for reuse. This research project aims to propose a novel methodology for estimating the potential of tempered glass for adaptive reuse. It is illustrated with a case study of a historic building in Paris, built over 50 years ago with about 2500 fully toughened glass panes for potential reuse. Firstly, a brief environmental impact assessment quantifies the impact of reuse compared to recycling and down-cycling to provide a more critical understanding of the benefits of reuse. Secondly, a probabilistic equivalence of the Heat-Soak Test (HST) is justified for thermally toughened glass. Based on statistical analysis of spontaneous breakage due to nickel sulphide (NiS) inclusions over time, a safety level over time is estimated. This level of safety can already be considered quite high from 20 years after installation and is equivalent to an HST after 50 years. Finally, the residual strength of aged tempered glass is estimated. This strength is based on the combination of the pre-stress level and Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM). The pre-stress level and the largest flaw depth are measured on-site using portable optical devices on a representative sample. A visual inspection procedure is then defined to speed up the evaluation of the flaw depth. Once trained, the observer should be able to qualify the glass panes relatively quickly following different 'Quality Levels' with associated characteristic strengths (95% confidence level). This methodology was applied to the case study. Pre-stress and flaw depth measurements were carried out on 70 glass panes. Visual inspection was tested and the margins calibrated to reach a 95% confidence level. The glass panes have an average surface pre-stress level of 81.41 MPa with a standard deviation of 4.17 MPa, which is consistent with other values reported in the literature for fully toughened glass. The largest flaw depths ranged from 4 µm to 147 µm, also in agreement with other publications. All of the glass panes analysed are suitable for reuse as heat-strengthened glass, and potentially better for some of them. The proposed methodology has been summarised to be generalised to other reuse projects. Typical fully toughened, heat-strengthened and annealed glass (average pre-stressing level and surface quality based on previous measurements) have a great potential for reuse at the same characteristic strength if the surface quality estimated by visual inspection has flaw depths smaller than 20-40 µm. Qualification for reuse of these three types of glass with a reduced strength is also proposed. This could allow reusing glass panes with flaw depths of up to 500 µm for several design scenarios.

Flat glass is a widely used material in the construction industry. However, its production has a relatively high carbon footprint due to the high melting temperature required, and most of it is still sent to landfill or down-cycled at end-of-life. The reuse of glass therefore has a great potential, given its lower carbon footprint and the number of existing buildings with glass panes that would be suitable for reuse. This research project aims to propose a novel methodology for estimating the potential of tempered glass for adaptive reuse. It is illustrated with a case study of a historic building in Paris, built over 50 years ago with about 2500 fully toughened glass panes for potential reuse. Firstly, a brief environmental impact assessment quantifies the impact of reuse compared to recycling and down-cycling to provide a more critical understanding of the benefits of reuse. Secondly, a probabilistic equivalence of the Heat-Soak Test (HST) is justified for thermally toughened glass. Based on statistical analysis of spontaneous breakage due to nickel sulphide (NiS) inclusions over time, a safety level over time is estimated. This level of safety can already be considered quite high from 20 years after installation and is equivalent to an HST after 50 years. Finally, the residual strength of aged tempered glass is estimated. This strength is based on the combination of the pre-stress level and Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM). The pre-stress level and the largest flaw depth are measured on-site using portable optical devices on a representative sample. A visual inspection procedure is then defined to speed up the evaluation of the flaw depth. Once trained, the observer should be able to qualify the glass panes relatively quickly following different 'Quality Levels' with associated characteristic strengths (95% confidence level). This methodology was applied to the case study. Pre-stress and flaw depth measurements were carried out on 70 glass panes. Visual inspection was tested and the margins calibrated to reach a 95% confidence level. The glass panes have an average surface pre-stress level of 81.41 MPa with a standard deviation of 4.17 MPa, which is consistent with other values reported in the literature for fully toughened glass. The largest flaw depths ranged from 4 µm to 147 µm, also in agreement with other publications. All of the glass panes analysed are suitable for reuse as heat-strengthened glass, and potentially better for some of them. The proposed methodology has been summarised to be generalised to other reuse projects. Typical fully toughened, heat-strengthened and annealed glass (average pre-stressing level and surface quality based on previous measurements) have a great potential for reuse at the same characteristic strength if the surface quality estimated by visual inspection has flaw depths smaller than 20-40 µm. Qualification for reuse of these three types of glass with a reduced strength is also proposed. This could allow reusing glass panes with flaw depths of up to 500 µm for several design scenarios.